Readers sound off on Kander/Blunt, Trump, foreign affairs, dropouts

Kander, veterans

I find it equally humorous and offensive that Sen. Roy Blunt runs ads to say he is better with our veterans than Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander would be as a senator for Missouri.

I doubt Kander, being a veteran himself, would turn his back on his brothers and sisters. Because when his nation called, Kander chose deployment, not a deferment ... or a deferment ... or a deferment.

Clay Rodgers

Blue Springs

Climate change

It is time that the conflict regarding human-caused global warming is no longer characterized as between science and ignorance. The effort to limit atmospheric carbon dioxide by draconian methods is not based on anything that can be called science.

It is based on a hypothesis advanced by Guy Callendar in the 1930s, when, as now, arctic ice, icebergs, etc., were melting. He never formulated a mathematical expression that could be used to prove or disprove his theory.

Then the weather turned cool again, and scientists were concerned about a “little ice age.”

Science, in many politicians’ eyes, consists of computer models that the climate stubbornly has refused to obey, even though they are adjusted from time to time to produce results more in line with the desired numbers.

To close the resulting gap, many politicians have called the enterprise “settled science” and have attempted to bully skeptics by taking away their constitutional right to free speech. This cannot be called science.

Robert Reimers

Gardner

Riding the tiger

It is possible to ride a tiger; the impossible part is getting off. Are Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s increasingly irrational statements his attempt to get off the tiger?

He is both unprepared and unqualified to become president but cannot admit it, so he is becoming so objectionable that the GOP might demand his removal. He is about to make 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern’s loss look like a squeaker.

Trump constantly backtracks and makes excuses. He alienates millions of voters and claims that the only way he can lose is by a rigged election, so he wants followers to monitor the polls on Election Day. Will he suggest they wear brown shirts and jack boots?

Trump reminds me of the quote penned by Lewis Carroll: “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’”

I imagined it would not be more than 10 minutes into the debates before this bloviating buffoon was reduced to sucking his thumb and sobbing, “I wanna build a wah-wah-WAAHLL.”

Unlike Trump, I have studied the Constitution and history.

Charles Wilson

Raymore

Political crowds

I’m not so much troubled by the crazy rhetoric we hear out of the mouth of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Rather it’s those cheering crowds, who appear to be normal people yet act as if his words have some validity.

Whatever happened to rational thought and serious analysis? It sort of reminds me of 1933 Berlin and the rise of the National Socialist Party. Lemmings racing into the abyss, ignorant of the consequences.

History repeats itself.

Wesley Hill

Blue Springs

Trump as president

We say we’re sick and tired of the way government works. We’re sick and tired of Congress gridlock and career politicians.

Well, stupid is as stupid does. We’re still voting for candidates because of their race, religion, personality, party affiliation or looks instead of their ideals and beliefs.

We can start with the two main presidential candidates. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is a career politician who I think is in politics to get rich, not to serve the people. She is the epitome of what you say you despise, but Democrats will still vote for her because she is a Democrat. They will vote for more of the same that they are sick and tired of.

We might not like GOP nominee Donald Trump’s personality, but he is not a politician. He is a businessman who knows how to negotiate. To be a good negotiator, one must know how to compromise, which could help unlock the gridlock in Congress.

Trump is running as a Republican, but most of his policies would benefit all Americans, regardless of party affiliation. With Trump, we can stop electing career politicians and just maybe get government working for the people again.

If we want real change, we must stop electing career politicians.

Thomas Hay

Lake Waukomis

Foreign affairs

Considering the Middle East turmoil with no end in sight and huge domestic challenges, I offer the following.

Facts:

1. We pump billions of aid dollars into the Middle East with direct monetary contributions, troops, etc.

2. There are way too many guns in America, and a lot are in the wrong hands.

How can we combine the elements of these two problems and make some good out of them? I propose four steps:

4. Take guns and ammunition from the federal buy-back program and arm every man, woman and child in the Middle East countries and let them protect themselves and go after ISIS as much or as little as they want.

We could provide a long stream of support with this four-step process. The U.S. would come out way ahead dollarwise, and Middle East residents could clean up their own mess.

Dropout dispute

In Tuesday’s paper (10-18, Letters), a letter to the editor included this paragraph: “One more thing. No one should get $15 per hour unless they have a high school diploma. You want $15 an hour, earn it.”

The implication, I presume, is that no one without a high school education does anything valuable enough to merit $15 an hour.

What an arrogant and uninformed thing to say.

I spent the first 25 years of my working life in construction and the last 20 as an educator. I was a high school dropout who, after a stint in the Marine Corps, earned a GED and, ultimately, a master’s in counselor education.

I understand the value of learning and urge everyone to pursue a quality education.

I also know many people who, often through no fault of their own, do not have a high school diploma. You frequently find them in construction and other jobs that demand exposure to health hazards, the vagaries of weather and other dangerous conditions, doing very hard yet valuable work that others seek to avoid.

A blanket statement that none of them is worth $15 an hour is ignorant and unconscionable.

Jim Banister

Kansas City, Kan.

Childish Congress

We haven’t even had the election, and already Republican senators are threatening to disregard the next president’s Supreme Court appointee.

We have had eight years of Republicans in Congress saying no to anything the president tried to do. Now it looks as if they are getting ready to do it for four more years if they don’t get their person elected.

How can a democracy work if some in Congress continue to act like children and don’t cooperate if they don’t get their way? I tried to ask Sen. Roy Blunt about doing the job we elected him to do, but he gave me the standard, “I know better than the voter” response.

I guess it’s time to elect a senator who will work for the country first and the party second.

Paul Budd

Sugar Creek, Mo.

Another option

For those who find voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton totally unacceptable, and if you are of a conservative persuasion, consider independent Evan McMullin.

He leads both Trump and Clinton in Utah. Voting for him as a write-in is showing support for his candidacy as a new, fresh conservative in 2020.

That would be a vote not wasted and no need to hold your nose in the polling booth.

David Wristen

Leawood

Fix the process

According to the ads, we have no deserving candidates for any of the elective offices. What’s a body to do?

Just pick the ones who appear the least threatening and hope for the best, and, oh joy, we can do this all over again in two to four years.

Is this any way to run a country? Perhaps limiting the number of dollars dumped into this process could help.

I also feel sure that limiting the amount of time we must endure this circus could contribute to a more sane election. Surely, in this age of electronic communication, the candidates can get their message out to the people in a much shorter time, perhaps two months. It would also relieve the candidate from spending so much of his or her time begging for money.

Bob Blackman

Raymore

Decency

Is there no decency?

I reference the current activities of the politicians chosen to represent “we the people.” I ask, “Is there no decency,” civility or class?

For most of our nation’s history, the majority of “we the people” have reached for higher values of etiquette, social interaction and achievement. And yet we witness deplorable conduct by the parties’ promoted political leaders, in the House, Senate and candidates for president, who are backed by an endless flow of all-controlling money.

Robert Hedrick

Liberty

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